Kanye West says he has ended his partnership with Gap

New York
CNN Business
–

Kanye West said he’s ending his rock Two-year partnership With the gap due to “fundamental non-compliance”.

His attorney, Nicholas Gravant, said in a statement Thursday that West had no choice but to end his collaboration because he alleged the retailer violated his partnership by not opening Yeezy-branded stores and distributing his clothing as originally planned, among other things.

West later appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday, describing his frustration with the retailer.

“It has always been my dream to be in the Gap and to bring the best product possible to the masses,” he told the network, adding that he envisioned high-quality merchandise that could sell for $20. But he says he was ultimately unable to decide what price he wanted for the resulting set.

“Sometimes I would talk to men and leaders, and it would be like I was silent or something.”

GAP Company

(GPS) She confirmed that she’s pulling the plug on the Yeezy partnership via an internal company email late Thursday that was seen by CNN Business.

“We wanted to tackle the headlines today and the past several weeks related to Yeezy Gap. Simply… while we share the vision of delivering utilitarian, high-quality, on-trend design to all people through unique holistic experiences with Yeezy Gap, the way we work together to achieve This vision is incompatible.And we are deciding to terminate the partnership,” Gap Brand President and CEO Mark Breitbard said in the email.

Breitbard said in the memo that the retailer “during this partnership has upheld our commitments – and the teams have done so with the utmost integrity, overcoming obstacles and demonstrating incredible determination.”

“Yeezy Gap was launched to be a highly disruptive and creative endeavor – one that has prompted us to think and act differently, attracting new, younger, more diverse clients…..we will take on the highly pioneering new ways of working that we learned through this,” Brittbard said in the memo. The process is with us as we move forward.”

Now moving to end the partnership, Gap said existing Yeezy Gap merchandise will continue to be sold in the company’s stores and website. It also expects to continue selling upcoming Yeezy Gap collections—including a 2022 holiday collection priced around $100 or less—in the fall and into the first half of 2023.

“It was costly Gap’s failure to comply with its contractual obligations,” wrote Gravante, who co-chaired the litigation group at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft. “Now you will fast forward to make up for lost time by opening Yeezy retail stores.”

Gap shares fell more than 3.5 percent on Thursday.

The partnership was announced in June 2020, immediately giving the beleaguered retailer a much-needed boost of convenience. For example, a $200 jacket by Design West It was an instant hitBut it was only available online.

West also said that Gap was required to sell 40% of Yeezy Gap products in retail stores, which did not materialize, According to the Wall Street Journal.

The relationship has soured in recent months. West, aka Ye, criticized Gap for not listening to him. said in Post deleted now on InstagramThe magazine reported.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote in a note that the collapse was “completely unexpected” and would not financially hurt Gap’s bottom line.

“Gap is a cautious, old-fashioned company that usually avoids bold moves. In contrast, Kanye is a radical innovator who loves to turn things around,” Saunders wrote. While Kanye could have injected a dose of energy into Gap, the mismatch between the two visions meant frustrations were inevitable. In some ways, Kanye was too extreme on Gap.”

West recently told Bloomberg that “it’s time for me to go it alone,” adding that he no longer wanted companies to “stand between me and the public.”

CNN’s Barriga Cavilanz contributed to this report